Skyfall - Third Spoiler

This film is shot in Istanbul in the beginning scene where James Bond finds an MI6 agent injured and close to death, the hard-drive of his laptop appears to have been stolen by the villain. The contents of the hard-drive not yet revealed whch builds a mystery and suspense for the audience and creates many enigma codes already. Bond discovers who the enemy is and tries to hunt him down with the help of MI6 operative Eve the chase is intense and after the enemy getting away by the skin of his teeth each time they end up on top of a train. Bond is shot in the shoulder by the enemy. Fighting continues as the train moves, whilst Eve is close by preparing to shoot the enemy, however Bond and the enemy are too close together for Eve to take a clean shot without the risk of shooting Bond. M (who is giving instructions via radio) gives the order to Eve to take the shot,she accidently shoots Bond and he falls into the river below, audiences assume he is dead.

M begins documenting Bond's death however goes to a meeting with a man called Gareth Mallory (a member of parliament) He tells M that the stolen hard drive has a list of names of MI6 agents. Mallory thinks he could handle the situation better than M and suggests that she should retire, yet she refuses and continues her mission. On the way back to work M's assistant Bill Tanner discovers that someone has hacked MI6's database from M's computer and when they arrive at headquarters a huge explosion destroys M's office, killing a number of people in the headquarters.
We then witness a scene where James Bond, is alive and healthy on an island enjoying himself, he hears about the attack and heads back to London. He visits M in her house, where she tells him that he has been declared dead and his appartement had been sold. He asks M if he can be rehired into MI6 to which M agrees to but tells him he will have to retake the tests to become a field agent again. He is taken to MI6's new underground HQ and he takes the tests. He manages to remove some of the bullet from his shoulder from where he was shot and sends it off for analysis. He is called in to see M, meeting Eve along the way, who has been suspended from field duty due to the accident regarding Bond's wound and is now assisting Mallory. M tells Bond he has passed the tests and can resume his field duties, yet we later find out that he hasn't in fact passed his tests, M had lied to him. She sends him to Shanghai to find the enemy after the bullet revealing his identity. Bond is sent to a museum where he meets his new helper Q who gives him a gun that can only be used by Bond himself and a radio tracker device.

Bond travels to Shanghai and follows the enemy (Patrice) to a hotel, he kills the receptionist which Bond witnesses The two get into a fight, and Patrice falls to his death before Bond can ask him who he is hired by. A woman in the opposite building (Bérénice Marlohe) stares at Bond, until he disappears into darkness. Bond finds a casino chip in Patrice's briefcase for a casino in Macau. He then travels to the casino, hands in the chip and is paid around 4 million euros the cashier believing he was the hitman. Bond runs into Bérénice Marlohe the woman who stared at him. Bond works out that she is a sex slave and wants to meet her employer. Bond is attacked upon his exit, but is helped by two Kimono Dragons and Eve who had traveled out to lend assistance. Bond makes it to Sévérine's yacht alive and the two make love.


The next day they approach an island that seems to be dead and abandoned where they are taken prisoner by the crew of the yacht. Bond is separated from Sévérine when approaching her employer Raoul Silva. Silva reveals that he used to be an MI6 agent who M betrayed by leaving him to be tortured and held captive at the hands of the enemy, he tells him how M gave him up because he was doing things that were far too dangerous.They head out to a courtyard where Sévérine has been tied up and beaten, Bond is challenged to shoot a glass of whisky off her head, yet before he gets a chance Silva shoots her dead. Bond calls for support from Royal Navy helicopters through Q's radio, he gets Silva captured and returns to the UK.
M confronts and imprisoned Silva about his attacks, but he questions her as to why she abandoned him, and she leaves to answer MP's questions, visibly shaken. Q attempts to access Silva's computer, but when he does MI6's security systems fail, freeing Silva. Bond chases him through London's underground system. On the way, Silva disguises himself as a police officer, but Q manages to relocate him through CCTV images. Bond finally corners him but Silva makes a bomb go off and derails a train to throw Bond off his tracks and allow him time to escape. Silva and a group of his henchmen, all dressed as police officers turn up at the meeting where M is talking to some MP's. Silva begins shooting the guards, but Bond arrives just in time to move M away to safety. Bond drives her off alone, hoping to use her as bait to draw Silva out. Along the way they change cars to prevent them from easily being tracked, and Bond switches to his old Aston Martin DB5, with all gadgets still working. He gets Q to create a trail that only Silva could follow.

Bond and M travel to Scotland to the Bond old family home called 'Skyfall'. There they meet the game-keeper and worked for Bond's father Kincade who offers to help fight Silva. They set up numerous traps around the house in preparation for the attack. The first men of Silva's approach and the traps, the DB5's machine guns, Bond and Kincade kill the lot and escape unharmed however M is hit in the stomach by a bullet. The second lot of men and Silva himself come to the house by helicopter. Bond orders Kincade to help M escape through a secret tunnel in the house that leads to a chapel while he tries to stay alive himself. Bond is shot at by heavy machine gun fire from the helicopter and by Silva throwing grenades into the house. Bond improvises by blowing up two gas canisters with dynamite. The resulting explosion destroys the helicopter, much of the house and kills all but Silva and two of his men. Bond escapes through the secret tunnel. Silva spots Kincade's torch in the distance and sets out to find him. Bond knocks out the first henchmen and kills the second by choking him beneath a frozen lake. He arrives at the chapel to find Silva asking M to shoot both of them and end their misery. Bond puts a knife into Silva's back, killing him, but M's bullet wound results in her death, leaving Bond distraught. He returns to work to find Eve has declined fieldwork and taken a desk job, revealing that her last name is Moneypenny. Mallory becomes the new M and hands Bond his new assignment.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, though I am not a huge fan of thrillers and it exceeded my expectations. The film keeps the audience on edge and there is a sense of mystery and suspense throughout. I would give this film 4 stars .

Pitch, Brainstorm & Treatment

                                                                               Pitch

Crime thriller targeted at males aged 18-25

This brainstorm shows my response to a crime thriller and the codes and conventions of the subgenre.  I have outlined the plots, characters and key events included in a crime thriller as a brainstorm to help influence my individual idea. My influence is David Fincher when creating my thriller opening.

I chose this particular genre as it creates a successful thriller film and can easily be shot with the resources we will have during filming (location, characters etc.) and is generally low budget.

Treatment

Research Of Example Treatment : 

Sample Movie Treatment - Example Story Synopsis For A Film Script By Marilyn Horowitz For The Film 'Lilly'

 http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/sample-movie-treatment-example-story-synopsis-for-a-film-script.html 

My Treatment Of A Crime Thriller Plot

Scene 1 - Camera shows doors of a commuter train open. The shot is of a man in a black and white business suit, the shot only shows from the neck down, stopping at the waist so the identity of the man is not yet given away. You see the doors close behind him after stepping off the train, the shot remains the same through the process. 

The next shot is a close up of the man's feet and legs and you can see that he is holding a briefcase, the camera follows his footsteps and pans to the back of the man, we witness him walk away and passers by are seen walking past at a faster speed than the man and only the back of him is revealed. 

The shot becomes long shot at normal speed and becomes a birds-eye view shot, showing how busy the area is and that the mysterious man is amongst the crowd.

Ambiance is heard throughout (people talking, noises of trains, tannoy announcements etc.) 

There will be tones of blue and green rather than natural colours to create a conventional thriller element and to create mystery and suspense.

The scene will be set at a busy undisclosed train station in London (potentially rush hour) ensuring evidence of a recognisable English location/setting. Examples of this are shown below.

Enigma codes attached to this scene could be:

Who is the man?

Where has he taken the train to and why?

Where is his desired destination?

What is in the briefcase?

All of these enigma codes create mystery and suspense, which is vital when creating a successful thriller film.

Questions Answered

Preliminary Task - Evidence To My Contribution

My contribution towards the group preliminary task was that I completed the majority of the editing in Final Cut. I also has equal input regarding the filming of the interrogation scene. I also was the one to take the photos used in the storyboard.

Myself & Emma Nye setting up a shot during filming

Myself & Emma Nye setting up a shot during filming

Myself editing the sequence in Final Cut

Myself filming a shot of the 'convict'

Group Preliminary Task With Directors Commentary

Final Edit with directors commentary

Group Preliminary Task

Camera How To: White Balance & Exposure

How To: Adjust White Balance

• Ensure that your camera is on the 'rec' setting before attempting to adjust the white balance
• Press the menu button and select Function >White Balance
• Hold a white sheet of paper infront of the camera
• Zoom in on the piece of paper using the zoom function on top of the camera
• Press and hold the Menu button until the icon flashes, this will mean that the camera has automatically set the white balance for you

How To: Adjust Exposure

• Press the Menu button > Exposure > Manual
• Scroll up and down with the top and bottom button on the wheel and adjust the exposure depending on the setting and desired effect of the shot.

How To: Adjust Focus

• Press the focus button above the menu pad.
• Use the left and right buttons to adjust the focus of the camera

Working With Sound & Foley Edit

This mind map is of the many terminologies used when discussing 'sound' within a film. The definitions of each word were found by myself and 2 partners. The reason behind the mind map is so that we can familiarise ourselves with the language used, so we can use them later on in our coursework and understand these words when used by others.

For this group task, there were 3 participants. My role within the group was to watch a clip of a film that was 2 minutes 20 seconds and create a timeline and noting down the times at which I heard a sound effect. The result is shown below. 

The reason behind the timeline was that  we were to be given a task where we were given just the footage without the sounds, our job was to re-insert the sound effects in the right places in 'Garage Band' which the timeline above enabled us to do. This gave us experience using GarageBand in order to have the knowledge to use it when it comes to making our group thriller title sequences. Below is the final product.

The heavy breathing sound effect is added on the video to create suspense. Heavy breathing would suggest fear or that the person is out of breath and has been running from something, it brings enigma codes where the audience could ask - why is he breathing heavily? The music was chosen as it is tense and has a suitable vibe for a thriller film. It is not too cheery like a soundtrack from a comedy but not too miserable like a soundtrack from a tragedy drama.

Camera Shots

Group presentation by Rosie Rattray, Emma Nye & Martin Stewart, a group task designed to ensure we understand the three types of camera shots and how to film them. This will be a huge help when creating our thriller titles sequence. I was given 'Shot Reverse Shot' as my area of study.

Copy of Camera Shots on Prezi

Limitless (Spoiler 2)

What if a pill could make you rich and powerful? Limitless is an exciting action-thriller about an extraordinary miracle the enhances the lives of many people. The main character is a writer Eddie Moora, who is struggling to write a novel; he looks a lot like a homeless person and is severely depressed after being rejected by his girlfriend, that brings him to become adamant that he doesn't have a positive future. Struggling to write his book, he is forced to stay inside his home for weeks and months trying to generate new idea, yet finding no solution.

Eddie takes a miraculous turn when he is re-introduced to his ex-brother in law Vernon who at their last meetup was a drug dealer. Learning that his old friend is still a dealer, and explaining to him about his depression and struggle in current times in his life, he is offered a potentially life changing drug NZT which enables the recipient to use 100% of their brain capacity.

The drug has many positive effects on Eddie, when he later returns to his apartment block, he bumps into the landlord's wife who he seduces with talk about legal studies in confidence, he later has sex with her. Back in his apartment Eddie quickly cleans up the mess made over the period of time spent moping around, he then begins to starts writing again, this time he is able to produce amazing quality work and words flew at him. The next morning the effects of the drug have worn off but he has printed the pages of the book he completed the night before, he brings them to his editor who is suspicious of how it came about so quickly, she is impressed by his work and leave many voicemails telling him.

Eddie goes to meet Vernon a second time, this time he is bruised and covered in blood; Vernon asks Eddie to run some errands for him, on his return, he discovers Vernon has been murdered and the apartment is completely trashed, he calls 999 in a blind panic. Realising that Vernon is dead, he looks for his stash of NZT which he finds along with a wad of money and an address book. Audiences then see Eddie live a life of luxuries and wealth for a short period of time, he jets off to beaches and pulls many women. He learns to play the piano, speak new languages, he improves his appearance and fitness and life seems as if it couldn't be better. When he jumps off a cliff in a cocky manner, he realises he needs money.

This is the stage where Eddie begins to start trading but he lends money from a loanshark and is threatened if he fails to repay the money. He becomes superior in his job and the miracle drugs lead him to become extremely successful and wealthy. His hunger for money is slowly becoming filled. Many people become aware of his success and wish to know his secret, he suspects that someone is spying on him, the man wears a cream coloured jacket.

Whilst walking down the street, Eddie is having distorted vision and jumps forward in time with no explanation or recollection of the events in-between  In these events he refers back to films he has seen in his head to fight off a gang of muggers, time then jumps forward and Eddie is seen in a bar where he meets new friends and has sex with a blonde woman in a hotel room. When he becomes aware of his surrounding and events, the drug once again has worn off and his stash of NZT has run out. He begs to call off the meeting yet he is forced to attend. On the news the following day, there is a report of a blonde girls murder in a hotel in the background of the metting, Eddie realises that the murder was of the girl he had previously had sex with and could have been committed by him, he excuses himself and is sick outside on the pavement.

Eddie becomes more and more worried about the effects of the miraculous drug. He decides to use Vernon's address book to ring previous recipients of the drug prior to him. He finds that all of the people that he called were either dead of very sick. The last call he makes is to the man in the cream jacket, which he quickly realises and flees from the scene.

Eddie arranges to meet his ex-girlfriend Melissa at which he discovers she has taken the same drug. She has been off the drug for two years yet her life is a mess and it has played with her mind, making a harsh impact on her life. She tells him to be careful and to ease himself out of taking them, or else he will die. he is later confronted by the loanshark who demands his money from Eddie, which he doesn't have to give to him, the man outs up a fight and manages to steal Eddie's NZT which satisfies his needs. Left without a stash, Eddie finds himself becoming more and more ill; he staggers into Lindy's office where he is forced to tell her what the matter is, he tells her he needs his stash which is hidden in her apartment. She gets them for him, yet on the way back she is followed by the suspicious man in the cream jacket. She is advised to take one of the NZT to gain the knowledge on how to free herself from the danger. She successfully escapes.

After the realization that he no longer has a stash and that people have come looking for him, he goes to kill himself by walking on the edge of the balcony, in a last attempt to survive, he remembers that there is a last remaining pill in one of the boxes, he goes to locate it but is quick to lose the pill during the attack. Fighting continues and Eddie manages to kill the attacker after he had administered a dose of NZT into his bloodstream. Eddie knows that the only way he can have some NZT for himself is to drink the dead man's blood, which he does in a desperate attempt. Eddie meets the thug in the waiting room of the hospital after visiting the manager of the company, who, now that his boss was dead, allows Eddie to search the safe safe where he finds his pills. 
12 months later Eddie's book is published. He is running for office and meets the corporate raider Carl in his office. He hints that he knows how Eddie has done it and has shut down his lab. Carl promises a limitless supply in return for information. Eddie aggressively comes back, showing off his abilities he says he is off NZT and doesn't need it as he pushes Carl away. At a Chinese restaurant Eddie and Lindy are together again after her leaving him after finding out about his drug usage.

This thriller is successful in the way that it creates mystery and suspense, the audience are held back from knowing whether the drug is going to conclusively be a good or bad thing for Eddie's life. There is a typical use of drugs, like many other thrillers, the mood and atmosphere is negative and shocking. The setting is in an adult world and there are high end business companies involved, the majority of characters are in business attire, suggesting they have important careers. There are many enigma codes within the film such as Who is the man in the cream jacket? Is the drug a benefit or a loss? Will the company discover the truth? Overall i would give this film a rating of 4/5 ****

Module 1 Self Assessment - Where I Am At

The level I would give myself currently is a  High Level 3, I would give myself 14/20 - Grade B

Targets:

• To complete tasks 8,9 & 11
• Become more creative with the presentation of my posts. Embedding videos and 9 stills
• Ensure planning and research is detailed in order to keep my Level 4 intact.

Group Thriller Synopsis - Narratives, Enigma Code, Subgenres

This video is a group presentation 'Thriller Synopsis' created by Rosie Rattray, Danny Whitebread, Grace Cuthbertson & Rosie Harvey. It outlines thriller narratives, enigma codes and thriller subgenres. We created this video on 'xtranormal'

Match On Action

The two videos in this post were an experimental 'match on action' on final cut to see if we were able to connect two clips (one of an actor closing a shutter, and the second an actor opening a door) into one with a seamless finish. The two clips in each video were filmed with separate type of shots, close-ups and medium long shots) I worked on this with Jake Lee, the one above completed by myself and the one below created by Jake. Overall for a first attempt I don't think we did too badly, though to improve we would need to be more precise on the place chosen to cut at.

Dexter Filming Proof Photos

Group Task - Rosie Rattray, Hannah Costen, Emma Nye & Rosie Harvey

For this group task we were told to recreate the 'Dexter' opening title sequence. The photos above is proof that all of the participants took part and played different roles withing the filming. As you can see, everyone had a turn at operating the camera and filming shots, we also all took turns in being filmed in specific shots. (From left to right) 

1. Emma setting up the camera to film the 'mosquito shot' 

2. Myself (Rosie Rattray) filming the 'mosquito shot'

3. Hannah setting up the camera for the shot in the mirror

4. Myself filming & Emma acting

5. Rosie Harvey setting up the camera

6. Emma and myself preparing props for the 'blood shots'

7. Rosie Harvey setting up the camera, Emma acting and myself helping to direct the actress and set up of the camera

Se7en Re-Edit

This is my first attempt at using FinalCutPro software to edit stills, video clips and sound clips into a sequence that mocks a title sequence of a film. This activity was a partner activity which I completed with Jake Lee in which we took turns to gain experience using the software. We learnt such things as cutting out parts of unwanted footage, adding sound and placing both image and videos together. This experience ensured we all gained the knowledge on how to use FinalCutPro which would be a benefit later on in the course when it is required during the making of our own Thriller Clip.

Suitable Thriller Location

From watching numerous thrillers, I decided to that using a large major city as a suitable location to shoot a thriller film in. I chose London as it is a recognizable city and has many iconic features and characteristics to determine that the location is in fact London, for example London buses and telephone boxes. Also the London Eye etc. Thrillers are generally set in a busy business type area, and London can be an example of this. In this photo you can see office blocks, making the audience that it is a business orientated setting. There is also St. Paul's Cathedral in the background of the photo which is the iconic structure in this particular photo. The River Thames is also visible, though one might not necessarily notice that without seeing St. Paul's Cathedral first.

Analysis Of Thriller - The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect is a famous psychological thriller that succeeds in many ways at keeping viewers entertained with a serious of mysterious scenes that bring suspense and tension upon the audience, making them sit on the edge of their seats. The Butterfly Effect is based around a boy called Evan, who throughout the film audience sees at various different stages of his life. Evan suffers from black-outs which cause him to forget certain, mostly traumatic events in his life; the blackouts are said to be stress related.

As teenage Evan takes a girl back to his dorm, he finds a collection of his old journals which he had written in as a child and beyond; Evan starts to recall the events to the girl and finds he can travel back in time and finds out previously hidden information and potentially redo all of the events in the journal account. As he goes through his accounts, he finds many different scenarios once he has changed his events, and he comes back into several alternative futures including a student, a prisoner and lastly an amputee. Each of the changes he makes to the events are an attempt to save (including saving her from being molested by her pedophile father) and win over his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh. All of these attempts seem to come with a negative consequence so he is forced to change some events more than once.

The confusion of memories in Evans brain cause him to have frequent nosebleeds throughout the film which leads to the diagnosis of brain damage later in the film. In several consequences from changing his past, he hurts many of his loved ones along the way, which he soon comes to realise. During the end of the film, Evan decides that the best thing to do is to go back to the time he met Kayleigh and scare her away, that way she will never be a part of his future life which does lead to him saving her life. He burns all of his memories and journals to destroy the evidence of ever meeting her. In the end scene we see Evan and Kayleigh pass in the street, they acknowledge each other but neither speaks.

The film is a successful thriller as it hits the expectations of what a thriller is. The blackouts are mysterious and the audience wish to know how he is going to change them and whether the change will bring good or bad consequences. The audience wonder also if Evan is ever going to succeed in saving Kayleigh and end up being with her. The effect of moving forwards and backwards in time ensure that many different events unfold, which the audience is anxious to follow until the end.

The Butterfly Effect Trailer

Iconography - Thrillers

This collage demonstrates the iconography of a typical thriller movie. Thrillers are most famous for their mystery and suspense. All of the items I have chosen above are mysterious, there is no explanation to them and the audience would have unanswered questions towards some of these screenshots above. The disc on the far left of the collage is an unidentified DVD and the audience will want to know the contents of the mysterious disc. The words 'fuck you' bring a negative vibe to the DVD so therefore the audience know immediately that the disc isn't going to be pleasant.
In the shot below that there is a man that seems to be angry and holding a syringe. The liquid contents is unknown to the viewers, this therefore brings a sense of mystery. The photo of the phone with '1 missed call' displayed on the screen is also mysterious as viewers would ask the questions 'who rang him?' and 'why?'
Moving onto the picture of the autopsy, these take place after a murder has happened to determine the cause of death, this also begins to confuse viewers minds making them wish to find out how this woman was killed.
All of the remaining images also bring suspense and mystery upon the audience to make them question Who? What? When? Where? How?  All locations pictured are dark and dingy which is a typical iconography of a thriller.

What Is A Thriller?

This is a photograph taken of a mind map we did as a group. It demonstrates  and answers the question ' What Is A Thriller?' Group discussions help to congregate ideas to end up with a huge list of elements included in a thriller film. This activity was carried out in order to help during the process of making our own thriller movie later in the course. I can use this mind map to refer back to when thinking of ideas of my own.